TV & Film
New true crime series about Harold Shipman is airing on the BBC soon
This looks good…
The BBC has confirmed a brand new docuseries on the famous doctor of death, Harold Shipman.
It’ll be perfect for all you true crime addicts, and will be relatively easy to watch as it is only a three-part series.
Made by filmmaker Chris Wilson, The Shipman Files will examine the shocking crimes of Shipman with a fine-tooth comb.
Shipman, a GP who spent most of his career working in Greater Manchester, was found guilty of murdering 15 people in 2000, but his victims were thought to run into the hundreds.
Across the series, Wilson meets with those closest to the case both professionally and personally.
He’s set to explore the attitudes towards the elderly that enabled the respected doctor to get away with murder.
The docuseries is set to follow the stories of the victims rather than the killer, as with the BAFTA-winning series The Yorkshire Ripper Files.
There will be first-hand accounts from some of the victims’ closest friends and family plus detectives, journalists, doctors.
Episode one will show viewers how the crimes were first discovered, opening in Hyde where Shipman worked for over 20 years.
The BBC description reads: “Shipman was one of the town’s most popular GPs. But in 1998, doubts were raised over the validity of the will left by one of his deceased patients, whose death Shipman had certified as due to ‘old age’.
“When the police exhumed her body, the subsequent post-mortem revealed that she had in fact been killed by a fatal dose of diamorphine – pure, medical-grade heroin.
“Suddenly what had been a curious complaint, became a murder inquiry, and the victim’s GP, Harold Shipman, became the prime suspect.
“And looking back at the deaths of several more of his recently deceased patients, police inquiries quickly snowballed into a multiple murder investigation.
“Shipman would eventually stand trial for the murder of 15 of his former patients from Hyde, all of them women, almost all of them elderly.”
The three-part series will be a gripping watch, which will question whether the fact Shipman targeted mainly elderly patients was the real reason he got away with killing so many people over such a long period of time.
Chris Wilson, the filmmaker behind the series, says: “There have been many films about Harold Shipman. Most attempt to take us ‘inside-the-mind’ of a serial killer. But none have fully explored the historical, cultural and social context that enabled a medical professional to take the lives of hundreds of trusting patients over more than two decades.
“It’s a chilling story about power, authority and an astonishing betrayal of trust – one that, for me, remains as pertinent today as it was twenty years ago.”
The series will air on BBC2 in BBC Week 39 (later this month).
TV & Film
Ant and Dec’s new ITV show is looking for contestants from Greater Manchester
The new game show is billed to have ‘life changing’ prizes up for grabs
Ant and Dec’s production company is on the look out for brave contestants from Greater Manchester to take part in a new game show.
The new show, titled Fortune Favours the Brave, has been billed as a ‘life-changing show’ thanks to the amount of money up for grabs, and will feature familiar games viewers will recognise but with a unique twist.
The call out for contestants tells potential players they need ‘nerves of steel’, ‘good general knowledge’ and a ‘risk-taking attitude.’
ITV
The show is looking for pairs of players, with an assistant producer telling ChronicleLive: “People can apply with a parent, sibling, partner, housemate, neighbour, colleague or bestie.
“There are massive, life-changing amounts of money to play for – and it’s a fun, fast-paced entertainment quiz-based show – with a huge twist!”
Fortune Favours the Brave has been commissioned by the Geordie duo’s production company, Mitre Studios, though it isn’t yet known if they’ll actually be hosting the show.
ITV
Reckon you’re the perfect candidate?
Applications are being accepted now – filming will commence in London in October so, if successful, candidates will need to be free on certain dates. Transport will be included.
The deadline for applications is midday on September 17th, 2021. Any applications sent after this date will not be considered.
Send off your application here.
TV & Film
Netflix to air chilling new Dennis Nilsen documentary with never-before-heard tapes of killer
Another day, another Netflix true crime doc
Netflix’s latest true crime documentary offering will be delving into the chilling crimes of Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen with never-before-heard tapes from his police interrogations.
Directed by Michael Harte – the man who brought us the 2019 masterpiece Don’t F**k With Cats – Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes will be offering a deeper look into the mind of the calculated killer and necrophile, who confessed to brutally murdering fifteen young men and boys between 1978 and 1983.
The official synopsis reads: “Over a five-year period, he picked up vulnerable young men, lured them back to his home and strangled them, before disposing of their bodies under the floorboards.
Netflix
“The truth about how and why he killed has been the subject of much speculation in books and documentaries over the decades since. Now, with unique access to a wealth of personal archive left in his cell after his death, including over 250 hours of never-before-published cassette tapes of his private recordings, this film will take us into Nilsen’s world.
“From a young boy growing up in a quiet Scottish fishing village to a cold-blooded murderer prowling the streets of London.”
The synopsis continues: “Set against the backdrop of 1980s Britain, when mass unemployment drew young men to London in search of their fortunes, only to find themselves destitute and easy prey, and weaving together interviews from police, journalists, survivors, bereaved families, and – for the first time – the killer’s own voice, this feature-length documentary explores how Nilsen was able to get away with multiple murders and attacks, unchallenged, for five years.”
Nilsen, who died at the age of seventy-two in 2018, was catapulted back into the spotlight last year when David Tenant portrayed him in the gripping ITV mini-seires, Des.
Speaking to the Radio Times ahead of the series’ release, Tenant said he felt it was ‘right and proper’ that Nilsen didn’t live long enough to see the series, saying: “After he was arrested, Dennis Nilsen became obsessed with was the legend of Des, the reputation that he left behind.
“Whenever he slipped out of public consciousness, there was almost a sense that he wanted to get back into it. That’s why I’m relieved he’s not alive. I would hate for this to go out and for him to be sitting in some cell somewhere imaging we were in any way glorifying him.”
Memories of a murderer: The Nilsen Tapes will be available to stream on Netflix from tomorrow, Wednesday August 18th.
TV & Film
Come Dine With Me is looking for amateur cooks from Manchester for new series
If you’ve got all the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on, get applying!
Know your way around the kitchen? Reckon your curry is the best in all of Manchester? Or do you just fancy competing for a £1,000 cash prize?
Well, you’d best get your oven mitts at the ready because everybody’s favourite reality cooking show, Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me, is on the hunt for keen cooks for their next series.
First airing back in 2005, Come Dine With Me has evolved from your bog-standard cooking show into a cultural phenomenon in its own right.
Channel 4
The premise is simple – five contestants each take it in turn to host their own dinner party complete with a three-course menu and entertainment. After each evening concludes, contestants rate each other on the quality of their food and their hosting skills, with the winner eventually taking home a £1,000 cash prize at the end of the week.
Over the years, the show has provided countless iconic and brilliantly quotable moments – we all remember Jane and her sad little life, don’t we?
Well, you could be a part of the fun very soon (or become the latest viral sensation granted you shove a whole whisk in your mouth), as Channel 4 are now casting for the latest series.
Channel 4
The casting call isn’t fussy – you simply need to be eighteen years or older and be eligible to live and work here in the UK.
To apply, you’ll need to fill out an application form before the closing date on September 10th, 2021.
Reckon you’re up to the challenge? You can find the full details and application here.
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